Polish Grammar - Genitive Case - Masculine

So we know how to spot if we are in the genetive case and, if we are, what changes to make for feminine nouns and their adjectives. What about masculine nouns?

Masculine Animate nouns (things which are alive) and their adjectives are exactly the same as they are in the Accusitive case.

Nouns - add an 'a': To jest kot - Nie mam kota
Adjectives - change the ending from 'y' to 'ego': To jest dobry kot - Nie mam dobrego kota

For Masculine non-animate nouns the only difference is that we add a 'u' instead of an 'a' to the noun

To jest dobry raport - Nie mam dobrego raportu

There are two very common phrases that will remind you of the 'u' ending in the Genetive case:

I don't have time - Nie mam czasu
No problem - Nie ma problemu

The second phrase literally means "It doesn't have a problem" but is used to say 'No problem' to someone when they are thanking you for helping them.

Listen out for and remember these phrases because it will help you remember:

Verbs being used negatively put you in the Genetive case
The 'u' ending on masculine nouns in the Genetive case

Spend some time to get comfortable with:

Identifying the gender of nouns
Spotting the Genitive case

Don't panic about getting this right in your spoken Polish - everyone will understand you if you use the wrong case. But start practicing it with the excercises here and in your written work. Soon enough it will spill over into your spoken Polish!

Let's add these endings into our table that we started earlier.

Polish grammar cases - Masculine, Genetive

Go slow!

The exercises for this lesson will take time. You may need to check your notes or scroll up to the lesson learning points several times.

This is normal.

By repeating the learning points using these interactive exercises over several days you will become faster and the knowledge will embed better in your long term memory.

Adjectives and Cases

Sort these masculine nouns (in their Genitive form) into animate and non-animate nouns.

Drag and drop all the dark blue boxes to their correct locations

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

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Think out the Polish

Practice spotting animate and non-animate nouns and changing the adjective and noun endings if needed.

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

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I do not have time	q2\|Nie mam czasu

No problem	(it has no problem) q2\|Nie ma problemu

You do not have a professional doctor	q2\|Nie masz profesjonalnego lekarza

You do not have a good hotel	q2\|Nie masz dobrego hotelu

I do not have an electrical problem	q2\|Nie mam elektrycznego problemu

I do not like conventional sport	q2\|Nie lubię konwencjonalnego sportu

I do not want a normal telephone	q2\|Nie chcę normalnego telefonu

I do not have a good (male) cat	(kot) q2\|Nie mam dobrego kota

I do not like an emotional (male) artist	(artyst) q2\|Nie lubię emocjonalnego artysta

I do not want a new scandal	q2\|Nie chcę nowego skandalu

You do not want a virtual assistant	q2\|Nie chcesz wirtualnego asystenta

You do not have a legal document	q2\|Nie masz legalnego dokumentu

Changing nouns to genetive

The exercise below includes some words you do not know but you can still practice changing them to genetive.

The nominative case of the noun is shown beside the text input box in brackets. Write the full sentence using the Genetive case.

For example, the first sentence is 'I do not want a ticket'. The Polish for 'ticket' is 'bilet' so the correct answer is 'Nie chcę biletu'

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

I do not want a ticket	(bilet) q3\|Nie chcę biletu

I do not have a brother	(brat) q3\|Nie mam brata

I do not have a son	(syn) q3\|Nie mam syna

I do not like jazz	(jazz) q3\|Nie lubię jazzu

You do not want a bicycle	(rower) q3\|Nie chcesz roweru

I do not have a boyfriend	(chłopak) q3\|Nie mam chłopaka

I do not have facebook	(facebook) q3\|Nie mam facebooka

You do not like rain	(deszcz) q3\|Nie lubisz deszczu

I do not have a shop	(sklep) q3\|Nie mam sklepu

I do not want a pen	(długopis) q3\|Nie chcę długopisu

You do not have a passport	(paszport) q3\|Nie masz paszportu

I do not like the forest	(las) q3\|Nie lubię lasu

I do not have internet	(internet) q3\|Nie mam internetu

I do not want a present	(prezent) q3\|Nie chcę prezentu

You do not have a boss	(szef) q3\|Nie masz szefa

I do not like wind	(wiatr) q3\|Nie lubię wiatru

You do not like the government	(rząd) q3\|Nie lubisz rządu

Changing nouns and adjectives to genetive

Now repeat a similar exercise but with adjectives.

The nominative case of the noun and adjective is shown beside the text input box in brackets. Write the full sentence using the Genetive case.

For example, the first sentence is 'I do not want a different ticket'. The Polish for 'different ticket' is 'inny bilet' so the correct answer is 'Nie chcę innego biletu'

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

I do not want a different ticket	(inny bilet) q4\|Nie chcę innego biletu

I do want another a son	(kolejny syn) q4\|Nie chcę kolejnego syna

I do not like new jazz	(nowy jazz) q4\|Nie lubię nowego jazzu

You do not want an old bicycle	(stary rower) q4\|Nie chcesz starego roweru

I do not have a new boyfriend	(mody chłopak) q4\|Nie mam nowego chłopaka

You do not like cold rain	(zimny deszcz) q4\|Nie lubisz zimnego deszczu

I do not have a new shop	(nowy sklep) q4\|Nie mam nowego sklepu

I do not want an old pen	(stary długopis) q4\|Nie chcę starego długopisu

You do not have a new passport	(nowy paszport) q4\|Nie masz nowego paszportu

I do not like the old forest	(stary las) q4\|Nie lubię starego lasu

I do not have good internet	(dobry internet) q4\|Nie mam dobrego internetu

I do not want a different present	(inny prezent) q4\|Nie chcę innego prezentu

You do not have a good boss	(dobry szef) q4\|Nie masz dobrego szefa

I do not like cold wind	(zimny wiatr) q4\|Nie lubię zimnego wiatru

You do not like the new government	(nowy rząd) q4\|Nie lubisz nowego rządu

Transfer Genetive nouns back to nominative

In the following exercise you'll see some sentences in both English and Polish. You need to spot the noun and adjective and reverse them back into the Nominative case.

For example, the first sentence is 'Nie lubię starego jazzu'. So the answer, in the Nominative case is 'stary jazz'

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

I do not like old jazz	Nie lubię starego jazzu q5\|stary jazz

I do not want a new boyfriend	Nie chcę nowego chłopaka q5\|nowy chłopak

I do not have a good bicycle	Nie mam dobrego roweru q5\|dobry rower

You do not like the new boss	Nie lubisz nowego szefa q5\|nowy szef

You do not have an old forest	Nie masz starego lasu q5\|stary las

I do not like the new government	Nie lubię nowego rządu q5\|nowy rząd

I do not have a different present	Nie mam innego prezentu q5\|inny prezent

You do not want an old pen	Nie chcesz starego długopisu q5\|stary długopis

I do not want a new boss	Nie chcę nowego szefa q5\|nowy szef

I do not like cold wind	Nie lubię zimnego wiatru q5\|zimny wiatr

You do not have good internet	Nie masz dobrego internetu q5\|dobry internet

I do not like cold rain	Nie lubię zimnego deszczu q5\|zimny deszcz

I do not have a brother	Nie mam brata q5\|brat

I do not have facebook	Nie mam facebooka q5\|facebook